A nice mix of nationalities. Truth to be told I know nothing of these riders, but since its Contador's team, I will probably try to follow it a bit. Im sure LF will try to update this thread when something great happens for the team, so that will be my source of information.

Habtom is a big talent, he was 7th in the MJ ITT without really working much on his position or having a great bike, so he's got a great engine.Last year he ws also able to survive the Giro del Trentino, his first stage race in Europe, when it was freezing cold, near -10° in the morning on a few stages and on the final stage he finished in a group with guys like Cataldo, Roy and Cattaneo, for a such a young African rider who rode his first stage race against the pros in Europe, against such a strong field and with really low temperatures, he did really well.

fauniera wrote:Is it really a good idea to put 18 year olds like Gazzoli into races with pros? I know he is talented, but that is too early imo.

I tend to agree, the level in Valencia should be fairly high with 11 WT teams. I was thinking maybe a race like Coppi e Bartali (just an example) could be decent for him as it usually only has 2 or 3 WT teams and many Conti teams. But we'll see.

Squire wrote:IIRC, Michel Ries was the best 1st-year after Hirschi in l'Avenir. That should count for something.

Samamba wrote:I know Inkelaar from his LTS days. He had a difficult first year in the u23 ranks, but showed last year in the Tour de Savoie & Valle d'Aosta as Lambrechts and Vanhouckes dom that he has the talent.

Gamper had the yellow jersey in the Tour de l'Avenir last year for a day or two (?). I also remember him being close to a solo win in one of the Italian end of the season classics.

Reis was pretty good in the Tour de l'Avenir aswell as Squire said

Mayomaniac wrote:Habtom is a big talent, he was 7th in the MJ ITT without really working much on his position or having a great bike, so he's got a great engine.Last year he ws also able to survive the Giro del Trentino, his first stage race in Europe, when it was freezing cold, near -10° in the morning on a few stages and on the final stage he finished in a group with guys like Cataldo, Roy and Cattaneo, for a such a young African rider who rode his first stage race against the pros in Europe, against such a strong field and with really low temperatures, he did really well.

Squire wrote:That's a proper baptism of fire for Gazzoli. Straight from the juniors and racing Valverde straight away.

I am looking forward to his debut, I think hè is the most talented one from this years squad. He is young ofc but if he can make it to the sprint hè might actually be able to get a nice result in this sprint field